This year was obviously going to be a slightly more precarious affair as it had been raining and that, along with the fact that I had forgotten my XC shoes, meant that I was in for a slippy ride on my racing flats. This time I set the Garmin up so that my virtual partner would just beat my time from last year - albeit, I did not think that I would be able to as, this time last year, I had just run a 1:19 half. Anyway, we all set off and I had my first look at my watch after about 3 miles, only to find that I was averaging 6 minute miles, I was going way too fast for this stage of the race. Still, I figured I would ease off a tiny bit and try and save myself for later. This worked to some extent and I was also joined by another 3 runners after sliding through one of the more muddy patches - my shoes were offering zero grip on some stages. Still, once we crossed the river and headed back for the last 8 miles, I knew that this was where the fun started. Basically, the course just weaves through forest, along single track paths scattered with rocks and puddles and up and down some of the most nasty hills....as in, there are steps as that is the only way to get up. The wet ground also made some of the downhill stages of the run a bit more interesting, with some of the more experienced fell runners going down at very quick speeds leaving me to play catch up on the flatter sections. My racing flats occasionally came in to their own though as we had brief interruptions from the roller coaster with some nice tarmac.
Here is the profile for the course....I almost feel it does not do it justice though, I think it is worse than this.
This year I actually did feel pretty strong for most of the run and I would only really say that it was in the last mile or so that I started to really fatigue, perhaps from not having any gels etc. According to the Garmin, I was only a couple of seconds behind last year's time when I eventually crossed the line. The harder finish this year made me think that I had actually had a better run. My watch recorded the run as 1:20:38 and the result in the clubhuose when I got there seemed to confirm this but the results which were later put up online seem to have added a few minutes to everyone's time - even the winner was down as a 1:11 in the clubhouse. So, not sure what happened there. Either way, I am happy. If it was really 1:23 then I was slower by the same amount as some of the other top runners. If it was 1:20 - well, that's even better.
I like to think that this is confirmation that the running is back on track. I am perhaps not doing as much as I should at the moment, but my swimming improvements and cycling workouts are getting better - to be giving all 3 disciplines as much attention as I would like is always going to be hard to achieve.
RESULTS
